Gordon G. McNeill, Former FBI Agent
Bill Schenley
http://www.realcities.com/mld/inquirer/news/obituaries/7634036.htm
Gordon G. McNeill, 61, a veteran special agent for the
Federal Bureau of Investigation who investigated a number of
high-profile cases, including the 1993 abduction and murder
of 12-year-old Polly Klaas in Petaluma, Calif., died
Thursday at his home in Moorestown. Mr. McNeill had fought a
long battle with esophageal cancer.
Born and raised in Philadelphia, Mr. McNeill graduated from
Cardinal Dougherty High School in 1960. That same year, he
began his 37-year FBI career, starting as a clerk in the
agency's Philadelphia office while attending St. Joseph's
University at night. After graduating from St. Joseph's in
1966, he became a special agent at the FBI's Detroit office.
He received the FBI Medal of Valor and the FBI Star for his
service during a 1986 shoot-out with bank robbers near Miami
in which agents Benjamin Grogan and Jerry Dove were killed
and five others, including McNeill, were wounded. It was one
of the bloodiest days in the FBI's history and the basis for
a 1988 NBC made-for-television movie, In the Line of Duty:
The FBI Murders.
"He was the ideal of what you think an FBI agent should be,"
former U.S. Attorney General Janet Reno, a friend of
McNeill's, said yesterday. "I had tremendous respect for
him."
Mr. McNeill worked as a special agent at FBI offices in
Pittsburgh, Washington and Miami, and as assistant special
agent in charge in Houston. After being appointed supervisor
of the Child Abduction and Serial Killer Unit at the
agency's San Francisco office in 1994, Mr. McNeill became a
national expert on child kidnappings and murders. He
promoted the collaboration between law enforcement agencies
and software companies to develop programs to track missing
children.
Certified as an FBI instructor in "stress management and law
enforcement," Mr. McNeill provided peer support to many
injured federal, state and local law enforcement officers.
Despite his often morbid work, Mr. McNeill remained
optimistic, said Atlee Wampler, a former U.S. attorney in
Miami. "When you met him, he was always upbeat," Wampler
said. "He always had a magnetic, radiant smile."
After retiring from the FBI in 1997, Mr. McNeill became
director of global security for the British freight company
Exel. In 2000, he moved with his wife, Elaine, to Moorestown
to be closer to relatives.
In addition to his wife, he is survived by two daughters,
Lori McNeill and Suzanne McNeill Farwell; a granddaughter;
and a brother.
A Funeral Mass will be said today at 1 p.m. at Christ the
King Roman Catholic Church, 200 Windsor Ave., Haddonfield.
Friends may call between 9:30 a.m. and 12:30 p.m.
Contributions may be made to the FBI Memorial College
Education Fund, c/o FBIAA, 271 North Ave., Suite 1006, New
Rochelle, N.Y. 10801.